How does abortion affect adoption?

Between 1989 and 1995, 1.7 percent of children born to never-married white women were placed for adoption, compared to 19.3 percent before 1973. Among never-married black women, relinquishment rates have ranged from .2 percent to 1.5 percent. Moreover, the adoption rate fell from 19.3 percent for white women in 1973 when Roe vs. Wade was decided, to 1.7 percent years later. 1

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute, a leading authority on adoption and an organization that provides a comprehensive overview of the birth-parent experience, conveys that domestic infant adoption is usually the first thing that comes to mind when Americans discuss adoption, yet it is the least common type of adoption. 2

The Evan B. Donaldson Adoption Institute estimates that domestic infant adoptions account for 15 percent of all adoptions, compared to 59 percent from the child welfare system, and 26 percent from other countries. 2

Abortions reduce adoptions by 11.7 :1 when comparing U.S. abortions to U.S.-sourced adoptions in developing an abortion/adoption ratio. If you exclude the number of foster care adoptions (mainly of older children), it increases the abortion/adoption ratio by 23 times. This means we choose abortion 12 to 23 times more frequently than we do parenting or adoption. 3

Planned Parenthood, which advertises itself as a full-service provider, aborted 61 babies for every adoption referral it made in 1999. As Planned Parenthood continued to increase its abortion profile, the number of its adoption referrals from 1998 to 1999 declined by 39 percent. 4

The Guttmacher Institute makes it known: “Legal access to abortion would be expected to reduce the number of unwanted children and thus the supply of children available for adoption and the number of adoptions.” 5

A 2004 study found that one-third of women with an unplanned pregnancy consider adoption, but only half of those women take any action in that direction. 6

In the U.S., just over one-half of all pregnancies to teens ages nineteen or younger end in births. Thirty percent of teen pregnancies end in abortion, and fourteen percent end in miscarriage. Of the teens that give birth, most parent the child. According to a 1995 survey, only one to two percent of single women in the U.S. choose adoption. 7

Research shows that only one to two percent of U.S. women place their child for adoption, and the number of U.S. teens who place their babies for adoption has declined sharply over recent decades.8

Almost two percent of unmarried women of any age place their child for adoption. 8

The percentage of premarital births placed for adoption has decreased since the 1970s. Analyses of three cycles of the National Survey of Family Growth show the following trend:

From 1952 to 1972, 8.7 percent of all premarital births were placed for adoption

From 1973 to 1981, this percentage fell to 4.1 percent

From 1982 to 1988, it fell further to two percent (Bachrach, Stolley, London, 1992) 9

How many couples are waiting to adopt?

There are 6.7 million women in America alone, between the ages of 15 to 44, with impaired fecundity (impaired ability to get pregnant or carry a baby to term). 10

In the U.S., there are approximately two million infertile couples waiting to adopt, many times regardless of the child’s medical problems such as Down Syndrome, Spina Bifida, HIV infection or a terminal illness.1

Dr. Brad Imler, President of America’s Pregnancy Helpline, confirms the challenges faced by waiting couples by stating: “Only one percent of the Helpline’s annual 40,000 clients inquires about adoption.” 1

How do adoptive parents interact with the adopted child?

Nearly three out of four adopted children ages zero to five are either read to or sang to every day, compared with only half of non-adopted children who receive the same attention from their biological parents. 11

Well over half of all adopted children eat dinner with their families at least six days a week. 11

The vast majority of adopted children have parents who reported that their child feels positive about their adoption. 12

Ninety-two percent of adopted children ages five and older have “positive” or “mostly positive” feelings about their adoption, according to their parents. This is true regardless of the adoption type and the child’s age. Overall, 49 percent of adopted children were reported as having positive feelings, and 43 percent were reported as having mostly positive feelings about their adoption. 12

According to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services national survey of adoptive parents, the statistics show the adoptive children’s social and emotional well-being: Eighty-eight percent of adopted children six years old and beyond exhibits positive social behaviors, compared to 94 percent of all children in the U.S., and that 81 percent of the parent-child relationship was reported as “very warm and close.” 13

Three out of four adopted children have parents who have some prior experience with or connection to adoption. Adopted children typically have parents who say they chose to adopt either to provide a permanent home for a child, to expand their family, or because of infertility. 12

Do people really talk about adoption?

In Planned Parenthood’s latest annual report (2012-2013) released in December, it did 327,166 abortion procedures over the course of one year, and 2,197 adoption referrals. That works out to approximately 149 abortions for each adoption referral. 14

The Donaldson Adoption Institute’s social media analysis of National Adoption Awareness Month reveals more discussion of pet adoption than human adoption on the social network, Twitter. In 2014, between November 1st to November 30th (Adoption Awareness Month), 71 percent of people tweeted in regards to pet adoption, while only 26 percent tweeted about human adoption. This calculation was made based off the total mentions of the word “adoption” on Twitter in the U.S. during November’s 2014 National Adoption Awareness Month. 2

*Above statistics concern domestic adoption in the United States

*Visit the Donaldson Adoption Institute for more research and statistics

*Adoption statistics are hard to track, since states are not necessarily required to report domestic adoptions

Sources:

1. Brown, Kristi Burton. Why Do More People Choose Abortion Over Adoption? 17 May 2012. 10 February 2015 <http://www.lifenews.com/2012/05/17/why-do-more-people-choose-abortion-over-adoption/ >.

3. Adoption USA: A Chartbook Based on the 2007 National Survey of Adoptive Parents.

ii On a related note, Planned Parenthood is a disproportionate contributor to the abortion/adoption ratio. We know that Planned Parenthood aborts 391x for every adoption referral. We also know that Planned Parenthood accounts for 25%-30% of all U.S. abortions. Without Planned Parenthood, the nationwide abortion/adoption ratio would fall at least 30% to at most 8.1x, from 11.7x.